diff --git a/vortex-file/src/strategy.rs b/vortex-file/src/strategy.rs
index 9d4dbb90610..18e8f44a67d 100644
--- a/vortex-file/src/strategy.rs
+++ b/vortex-file/src/strategy.rs
@@ -62,6 +62,7 @@ pub struct WriteStrategyBuilder {
     allow_encodings: Option<HashSet<ArrayId>>,
     flat_strategy: Option<Arc<dyn LayoutStrategy>>,
     probe_compressor: Option<Arc<dyn CompressorPlugin>>,
+    include_sum_zone_stats: bool,
     /// Whether to write list fields using [`ListLayoutStrategy`].
     ///
     /// [`ListLayoutStrategy`]: vortex_layout::layouts::list::writer::ListLayoutStrategy
@@ -80,6 +81,7 @@ impl Default for WriteStrategyBuilder {
             allow_encodings: None,
             flat_strategy: None,
             probe_compressor: None,
+            include_sum_zone_stats: true,
             use_list_layout: use_experimental_list_layout(),
         }
     }
@@ -173,6 +175,15 @@ impl WriteStrategyBuilder {
         self
     }
 
+    /// Configure whether zoned layouts include Sum in their default aggregate set.
+    ///
+    /// Disabling Sum can preserve write compatibility with readers whose Sum aggregate uses a
+    /// different partial-state representation.
+    pub fn with_sum_zone_stats(mut self, include: bool) -> Self {
+        self.include_sum_zone_stats = include;
+        self
+    }
+
     /// Builds the canonical [`LayoutStrategy`] implementation, with the configured overrides
     /// applied.
     pub fn build(self) -> Arc<dyn LayoutStrategy> {
@@ -267,6 +278,7 @@ impl WriteStrategyBuilder {
             compress_then_flat.clone(),
             ZonedLayoutOptions {
                 block_size: row_block_size,
+                include_sum: self.include_sum_zone_stats,
                 ..Default::default()
             },
         );
@@ -301,6 +313,7 @@ impl WriteStrategyBuilder {
                         compress_then_flat.clone(),
                         ZonedLayoutOptions {
                             block_size: row_block_size,
+                            include_sum: self.include_sum_zone_stats,
                             ..Default::default()
                         },
                     );
diff --git a/vortex-layout/src/layouts/zoned/writer.rs b/vortex-layout/src/layouts/zoned/writer.rs
index 92c4b4c9870..086b9ddbfeb 100644
--- a/vortex-layout/src/layouts/zoned/writer.rs
+++ b/vortex-layout/src/layouts/zoned/writer.rs
@@ -59,6 +59,10 @@ pub struct ZonedLayoutOptions {
     ///
     /// If unset, the writer chooses pruning aggregates from the input dtype.
     pub aggregate_fns: Option<Arc<[AggregateFnRef]>>,
+    /// Whether the default aggregate set includes Sum.
+    ///
+    /// This has no effect when `aggregate_fns` is set explicitly.
+    pub include_sum: bool,
     /// Number of chunks to compute aggregate partials in parallel.
     pub concurrency: NonZeroUsize,
 }
@@ -68,6 +72,7 @@ impl Default for ZonedLayoutOptions {
         Self {
             block_size: unsafe { NonZeroUsize::new_unchecked(8192) },
             aggregate_fns: None,
+            include_sum: true,
             concurrency: unsafe {
                 NonZeroUsize::new_unchecked(get_available_parallelism().unwrap_or(1))
             },
@@ -106,11 +111,9 @@ impl LayoutStrategy for ZonedStrategy {
         mut eof: SequencePointer,
         session: &VortexSession,
     ) -> VortexResult<LayoutRef> {
-        let aggregate_fns = self
-            .options
-            .aggregate_fns
-            .clone()
-            .unwrap_or_else(|| default_zoned_aggregate_fns(stream.dtype(), session));
+        let aggregate_fns = self.options.aggregate_fns.clone().unwrap_or_else(|| {
+            default_zoned_aggregate_fns(stream.dtype(), session, self.options.include_sum)
+        });
         let compute_session = session.clone();
 
         let stats_accumulator = Arc::new(Mutex::new(AggregateStatsAccumulator::new(
@@ -192,7 +195,11 @@ impl LayoutStrategy for ZonedStrategy {
     }
 }
 
-fn default_zoned_aggregate_fns(dtype: &DType, session: &VortexSession) -> Arc<[AggregateFnRef]> {
+fn default_zoned_aggregate_fns(
+    dtype: &DType,
+    session: &VortexSession,
+    include_sum: bool,
+) -> Arc<[AggregateFnRef]> {
     let (max, min) = match dtype {
         DType::Utf8(_) | DType::Binary(_) => (
             BoundedMax.bind(BoundedMaxOptions {
@@ -209,9 +216,10 @@ fn default_zoned_aggregate_fns(dtype: &DType, session: &VortexSession) -> Arc<[A
     };
 
     let mut aggregate_fns = vec![max, min];
-    if Sum
-        .return_dtype(&SumAggregateOpts::skip_nans(), dtype)
-        .is_some()
+    if include_sum
+        && Sum
+            .return_dtype(&SumAggregateOpts::skip_nans(), dtype)
+            .is_some()
     {
         aggregate_fns.push(Sum.bind(SumAggregateOpts::skip_nans()));
     }
@@ -243,6 +251,7 @@ mod tests {
         let aggregate_fns = default_zoned_aggregate_fns(
             &DType::Utf8(Nullability::NonNullable),
             &vortex_array::array_session(),
+            true,
         );
 
         assert_eq!(
@@ -258,7 +267,7 @@ mod tests {
     #[test]
     fn default_aggregates_keep_fixed_width_min_max_exact() {
         let aggregate_fns =
-            default_zoned_aggregate_fns(&PType::I32.into(), &vortex_array::array_session());
+            default_zoned_aggregate_fns(&PType::I32.into(), &vortex_array::array_session(), true);
 
         assert!(aggregate_fns[0].is::<Max>());
         assert!(aggregate_fns[1].is::<Min>());
@@ -270,7 +279,20 @@ mod tests {
         let dtype = DType::Extension(
             Timestamp::new(TimeUnit::Microseconds, Nullability::Nullable).erased(),
         );
-        let aggregate_fns = default_zoned_aggregate_fns(&dtype, &vortex_array::array_session());
+        let aggregate_fns =
+            default_zoned_aggregate_fns(&dtype, &vortex_array::array_session(), true);
+
+        assert!(
+            aggregate_fns
+                .iter()
+                .all(|aggregate_fn| !aggregate_fn.is::<Sum>())
+        );
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn default_aggregates_can_skip_sum() {
+        let aggregate_fns =
+            default_zoned_aggregate_fns(&PType::I32.into(), &vortex_array::array_session(), false);
 
         assert!(
             aggregate_fns